Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

“The will of this Prelate, dated the 10th of December 1471, is
extant among the manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College,
Dublin (B. 52), whereby he deviseth his two silver gilded
saltsellers (salsaria) with their covers, to make cups for St.
Patrick’s, to serve in divine offices. He also bequeathed his
pair of organs to the said Church, to be used at the celebration
of divine service in St. Mary’s Chapel. ‘I devise also (says he)
that William Wyse, whose industry for this purpose I choose,
shall in my stead visit with a decent oblation St. Michael’s
Mount in Cornwall, which by vow I am bound to perform either by
myself or proxy;’ and also orders him to give some largesses
towards building the neighbouring churches near where his friends
dwell.

“The registry[22] of the Dominican Abbey in Dublin gives an
account, that above fifty persons went out of the Diocese to Rome
in 1451, to celebrate the jubilee then held under Pope Nicholas
the fifth, and that this prelate gave them recommendatory
certificates to the Pope; that seven of the number were pressed
to death in the crowd, besides what died in their return. This
squares with the relation given by Mathias Palmerius, in his
additions to the Chronicle of Eusebius, ‘That there was so great
a concourse of people from all parts of the Christian world at
this jubilee, that at Hadrian’s Mole almost two hundred perished
in the press, besides many who were drowned in the Tiber.’ They
who returned sate in 1453, brought the melancholy news, that
Constantinople was taken by the Turks, and the Emperor
Constantine Palæologus slain. Our Archbishop was so afflicted at
the account, that he ordered a fast to be kept strictly
throughout his diocese for three days together, and granted
indulgences of an hundred years to the observers of it; and he
himself went before the clergy in procession to Christ Church
cloathed in sackcloth and ashes.”

The works of Tregury are thus noticed by Pits, in his volume “De
illustribus Angliæ Scriptoribus:”

“Multa scripsisse perhibetur, quæ Gallis inter quos vixit vel
Hibernis apud quos obiit, magis quàm Anglis e quibus natus est,
nota esse poterunt. Hos tamen paucos titulos sequentes invenio:

Super Magistro Sententiarum lib. iv.
De Origine illius Studii lib. i.
Quæstiones Ordinarias lib. i.
Contra Henricum Albrincensem lib. i.
Yours, &c. DAVIES GILBERT.

_De Restitutione Temporalium Archiepiscopatus Dublinensis._

[_Rymeri Fœdera, tom. xi. p. 260._]

Rex Cancellario nostro, vel ejus deputato, seu Custodi Magni Sigilli nostri in terrâ nostrâ Hiberniæ, qui nunc est vel qui pro tempore fuerit, salutem. Cum dominus Summus Pontifex, nuper vacante ecclesiâ metropolitanâ Dublinensi, per mortem bonæ memoriæ Richardi ultimi Archiepiscopi ejusdem loci, dilectum Capellanum nostrum Magistrum Michaelem Tregorre, sacræ theologiæ professorem, in Archiepiscopum illius loci præfecerit et pastorem, sicut per literas bullatas ipsius domini Summi Pontificis nobis inde directis nobis constat, Nos, pro eo quòd idem Archiepiscopus omnibus et singulis verbis in dictis literis bullatis contentis nobis et Coronæ nostræ prejudicialibus coram nobis renunciavit, et gratiæ nostræ humiliter se submisit, volentes cum eo agere gratiòse, cepimus fidelitatem ipsius Archiepiscopi, et temporalia archiepiscopatûs illius, prout moris est, restituimus eidem; et ideo vobis mandamus quòd eidem Archiepiscopo, seu ejus in hac parte attornatis, deputatis, seu procuratoribus, temporalia prædicta infra terram prædictam, cum pertinentiis, per brevia nostra inde in cancellariâ nostrâ terræ nostræ prædictæ, tot et talia quot et qualia sibi in hac parte necessaria fuerint, seu quomodolibet opportuna, sub magno sigillo nostro ejusdem terræ debitè conficienda deliberari demandetis, habenda in formâ prædictâ, cum suis juribus et pertinentiis universis. Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium, decimo die Februarii.

Et mandatum est militibus, liberis hominibus, et omnibus aliis tenentibus de Archiepiscopatu prædicto infra terram nostram prædictam, quod eidem Michaeli tanquam Archiepiscopo et domino suo in omnibus quæ ad Archiepiscopatum prædictum pertinent, intendentes sint et respondentes, sicut prædictum est. In cujus, &c. Teste, ut supra.

_Pro Archiepiscopo Dubliniæ._

[_Rymeri Fœdera, vol. xi. p. 325._]

Rex omnibus ad quos, &c. salutem.

Sciatis quòd, cùm venerabilis in Christo pater Michael Dublinensis Archiepiscopus habere et percipere debeat viginti libras per annum, de nobis pro suo sano consilio utilitatem et politicum regimen terræ nostræ Hiberniæ concernente, nobis impenso et impendendo tempore quo Archiepiscopus ibidem extiterit, prout ejus prædecessores, Archiepiscopi loci prædicti, ac de consilio nostro et progenitorum nostrorum Regum Angliæ existentes, habere solebant de nobis et progenitoribus nostris prædictis pro hujusmodi consilio suo,――dictoque nunc Archiepiscopo summa quinquaginta librarum, de dictis viginti libris annuis (videlicet, a quarto die Novembris, in anno regni nostri vicesimi-noni usque quartum diem Februarii in anno regni nostri tricesimi-primi, scilicet per duos annos integros et unum dimidium annum, per quod tempus ipse venerabilis pater Archiepiscopus Dublinensis extitit, et sanum suum consilium ad utilitatem terræ nostræ prædictæ impendit,) per nos debita jam existat,――volentes eundem Archiepiscopum tam de dictâ summâ quinquaginta librarum contentari, quàm de viginti libris annuis hujusmodi, pro tempore quo ipsum Archiepiscopum ibidem fore contigerit percipiendis et habendis, ipsum Archiepiscopum securiorem fieri et reddi, de gratiâ nostrâ speciali ac de mero motu et certâ scientiâ nostris, commissimus eidem nunc Archiepiscopo custodium manerii sive dominii de Tassagard cum pertinentiis, necnon villæ de Ballachize, parcellæ manerii prædicti, cum pertinentiis, in manu nostrâ certis de causis existentium, habendum et tenendum eidem Archiepiscopo, unà cum proficiis, commoditatibus, curiis, juribus, emolumentis, et pertinentiis suis quibuscunque, per totum tempus quo ipsum Archiepiscopum Dublinensem fore contigerit, reddendo inde nobis per annum, pro custodiâ prædictâ, durante tempore illo, ad Scaccarium nostrum in Hiberniâ, tales et tantas denariorum summas, de qualibus et quantis nobis pro custodiâ manerii et villæ prædictorum cum pertinentiis modo responsum existet; et ulteriùs volumus et præfato Archiepiscopo concedimus quòd ipse centum solidos annuatim de denariorum summis, quæ per ipsum Archiepiscopum de custodiâ prædictâ deberi contigerint, in manibus suis propriis habeat et retineat, quòdque ipse dictam summam quinquaginta librarum inde sic levaverit, perciperit, et in manibus suis retinuerit.

Et insuper quòd ipse Archiepiscopus annuatim, durante toto termino prædicto, quo ipse Archiepiscopus ibidem et de consilio nostro fuerit, de hujusmodi denariis, de custodiâ prædictâ nobis per ipsum Archiepiscopum debendis et extunc proveniendis, in manibus suis propriis habeat et retineat viginti libras per annum, habendas, percipiendas, et retinendas in satisfactionem dictarum viginti librarum per annum, quas ipse Archiepiscopus pro consilio suo prædicto de nobis per tempus prædictum percipere debet, quamdiù ipse Archiepiscopus Dublinensis extiterit, pro sano suo consilio nobis impendendo; et ulteriùs concedimus præfato Archiepiscopo quòd ipse, in solutione dictarum denariorum summarum et custodiæ prædictæ, ad Scaccarium prædictum de omnibus hujusmodi summis, quas ipse Archiepiscopus, prætextâ harum literarum nostrarum patentium, habuerit, perciperit, aut retinuerit, de tempore in tempus, debitam habeat deductionem et allocationem; aliquo statuto, actu, ordinatione, sive restrictione in contrarium factis, editis, seu provisis, sive aliquâ aliâ re, materiâ, vel causâ non obstantibus. In cujus, &c. Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium, nono die Maii [1453].

Per Breve de Privato Sigillo.

St. Wenn measures 3,858 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2963 0 0
Poor Rates in 1831 228 5 0
Population,――{ in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 358 | 452 | 589 | 649
giving an increase of 81 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Incumbent, the Rev. R. P. Gilbert, instituted in 1810.

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.

The rocks of this parish resemble those of the northern half of St. Columb Major.

[15] Mr. Hals has very inaccurately translated the last
words of the second line. The Archbishop requests the
readers of the Epitaph earnestly to entreat Christ for
himself.

[16] The Deanery of Penkridge in Herefordshire was not,
however, an early preferment of Tregury, it having been
annexed to the see of Dublin as early as the reign of King
John.

[17] “Jo. Rous, in lib. de Regibus, MS.”

[18] “Pits, de Script. 663.”

[19] See the act of restitution of his temporalities, at the
close of this letter, p. 148.

[20] By Sir George Shuckburgh’s Tables, printed in the
Philosophical Transactions for 1798, this sum would be equal
to almost six and a half times as much as the same nominal
sum at the commencement of the present century; that is,
130_l._ a year.

[21] See the letters patent hereafter, p. 149.

[22] Ware’s MSS.

WHITSTONE.

HALS.

Whitstone is situate in the hundred of Stratton, and hath upon the north part of Bridgerule and Marhamchurch, west Wike St. Mary and Tamerton, south Werrington and St. Stephen’s.

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, Ecclesia de Witeston, in decanatu de Trigmajorshire, was valued at £4. 6_s._ 8_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, £14. 11_s._ 0½_d._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed it; the incumbent Tregena or Hosken; and the parish rated to the four shillings per pound Land Tax, 1696, for one year £124. 12_s._ 6_d._ tempore William III.

The barton of Benett, in this parish, was formerly the seat of George Heale, esq. Sheriff of Cornwall, 4 and 5 of Charles I. that married ――――; as also of Edmund Hele, esq. his son, Sheriff of Cornwall, 22 Charles I. whose son dying without issue, those lands and much other descended to his daughter Lucy, the wife of John Basset, of Tehidy, esq. now in possession thereof. The name Hele, Heale, is Saxon English, and signifies the same as hell in British, viz. a hall, either of a dwelling house or refectory, or a place of judicature or prætorium, a tabernacle or a tent.

The arms of Heale are Gules, a bend lozengy Ermine.

TONKIN.

Whitston is in the hundred of Stratton, and hath to the west St. Mary Week, to the north Marhamchurch and Bridgerule, to the east the river Tamar, between it and Devon, to the south Tamerton.

The name of the parish is derived from a white rock, on which part of the church is founded. It is a large white stone in the south side of the church; the part which appears is of an oval form. This account I had from Mr. Nicholas Hoskins, jun. and vicar of Boyton, son to the rector of this.

In anno 1291, 20 Edw. I. this church was valued (Tax. Benef.) at £4. 6_s._ 8_d._ having never been appropriated.

This church is a rectory, valued in the King’s Book, £14. 11_s._ ob.; the patronage in the heirs of Sir John Arundell; the incumbent Mr. Nicholas Hoskins.

THE MANOR OF WHITESTONE.

This, in Domesday Book, is called Witestan, being one of the manors given by William the Conqueror to Robert Earl of Morton, when he created Earl of Cornwall the said Robert.

In the extent of Cornish acres, 12 Edw. I. (Car. f. 48), this, by the name of Wilston and St. Petnell (St. Petronel, I suppose), is valued in two.

The 3 Henry IV. (Idem, f. 40 b.) John de Cobbeham held one fee in Wiston and Serpeknol, which I take to be the same with the former, only wrong spelt.

[The name of the parish is not derived, I apprehend, from any white stone on which the church is founded. From the very description here given of it, it could never have given name to the church itself. Only “part of the church is founded” on it. Nor is this part “founded” on it. There is only “a large white stone in the south side of the church;” and this is plainly built up in the side, as it is said to be “of an oval form.” The reference of the name to this stone, therefore, has been merely the idle play of intellect, in those who in antiquarian matters did not know how to exert their understandimg seriously. The real name of the church is “St. Petnell, St. Petronel, I suppose.” The church then could not give name to the parish. And the parish actually received its name from the manor, as the manor received it from its manerial house, this being built upon a white rock, that very rock assuredly from which the white stone in the wall of the church had been brought. W.]

THE EDITOR.

The church and tower of this parish, like several others in the north-eastern part of Cornwall, are fine objects in themselves, and are placed on commanding situations.

There are several monuments to former residents and proprietors in the parish. Among these is one to the memory of George Hele, of Bennetts, esq. who died in 1652, and of his son Warwick Hele, who died in 1650. The family of Hele had resided for many generations at Bennetts, which came into the Basset family in the latter part of that century, by the marriage of John Basset, esq. of Tehidy, with Lucy Hele. Their great-grandson, the late Lord Dunstanville, was in the habit of visiting Bennetts for several weeks at a time. This place had been leased for lives to a respectable family of the name of Webbe, probably soon after it came to Mr. John Basset.

The advowson of the living belonged to the Arundells of Lanherne and Wardour, who sold it about fifty years ago; and, after passing through various hands, it came to the Rev. John Kingdon, who is also the incumbent, instituted in 1793. The net value of the living in 1831 was £231.

Whitstone measures 3429 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1832 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 205 13 0
Population,――{ in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 345 | 397 | 466 | 481
giving an increase of 40 per cent. in 30 years.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

Whitstone, like all the other parishes in this division of Cornwall, is situated on the calcareous series, more particularly on the compact schistose varieties of dunstone.

ST. WINNOW.

HALS.

St. Wennoe is situate in the hundred of West, and hath upon the north Braddock and Cardenham, west the Foye river or sea, south St. Veepe, east Lanreth.

In the glass windows of this church, the Patron Saint is called after the Latin St. (Sanctus) Winotus, but further knowledge of him I have not.

In the Domesday Book 1087, this district was taxed by the name of Tre-vocar-Winoe. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia de Sancto Winotho was valued lx_s._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, it was rated 5_l._ The Patronage in ; the incumbent Laurence; the rectory in possession of ――――; and the parish rated at 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, for one year, £210. 8_s._ 8_d._

In this parish is a chapel of ease dedicated to St. Nectan, _vulgo vocat._ St. Knighton, or Nighton, whose revenues in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, were thus rated, Capella de Nectan, in decanatu de West, v_s._ This Nectan was born in Devon about the year 940, a man of singular piety and holiness, as most of those days afforded, who lived a monkish or eremitical life, at Hartland, in Devon, where he died about the year 1010. After his death his relics (see Rawlegh’s Relicta Nomen viri) were enshrined and set up in the same little chapel where he served God there; in which place Githa, wife of Godwin Earl of Kent (or rather Goditha his daughter, afterwards married to Edward the Confessor), as Malmesbury informs us, 1030, built and endowed a monastery of secular priests, which might marry wives; valued at the suppression, 26 Hen. VIII. at £350 per annum; and the reason of this her pious foundation is said to be, for that she was fully persuaded that her husband, Earl Godwin, escaped the danger of a shipwreck in a raging tempest at sea by his merits and intercessions.

Galfrid de Dynham, Lord of Hartland, was a great benefactor to this monastery, and changed the Secular Priests into Black Canons Augustine, who were prohibited marriage by their rule. See the Monasticon Anglicanum, tome II. p. 285, concerning Nectan and Hartland.

This barton and manor of St. Winow gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen, from thence surnamed de St. Winow, of which family was that Philip de St. Winow, who had £20 lands and upwards in this place, held by the tenure of knight service, 25 Edward III. 1352 (Survey of Cornwall, p. 52,) from whose heirs it passed by descent or purchase about Henry VIth’s time to ―――― Upton, which Upton was originally descended either from the Uptons of Upton and Colombton, or Lupton, in Brixham parish, in Devon, whose elder brother’s estate passed by his daughter and heir in marriage to the Wingfields; as also the estate of this Upton of St. Winow did by marriage with his daughter and heir to William Lower, esq. of Trelaske, in Lawanack, Sheriff of Cornwall 16 Henry VIII. 1525. William Lower, esq. his son, or grandson, was Sheriff of Cornwall 20th of Elizabeth; he married one of Reskimer’s heirs, and had issue Nicholas Lower, esq. afterwards knighted, Sheriff of Cornwall 8 Charles I. Sir Nicholas married ――――, and had issue one only daughter, that became his heir, and was married to Sir William Drummond, knight, who had issue by her two daughters that became his heirs; the one married to Charles Trevanion, of Caryhayes, esq. and to ―――― Roper, esq. now Lord of this place in fee. The possession by lease in Stephen Robins, esq. Sheriff of Cornwall about the year 1700, who married ―――― Robins, his father William of Probus, and giveth for his arms the same as Robins of Verian.

Tethe, in this parish, alias Eade or Ethy, was the seat of some of the Courtneys of Boconnock, from whose heirs it passed by purchase, as I am informed, to John Trevill, esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 18 Charles II. whose three daughters and heirs carried those lands, together with themselves, in marriage, to Burthog, Savery, and Arscott; but Arscott’s lady dying under age, he purchased this barton and manor of Tethe, or Ethy, from Burthog and Savery, whose younger son Denis Arscott, esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 4th King George, was then in possession thereof.

Tre-vego, alias Tre-vega, in this parish, that is to say, the town upon the top of a stiff hill or precipice, according to the natural circumstances of the place, is the dwelling of Warwick Hankey, esq. barrister-at-law, that married Jane, daughter of Giles Risdon, of Babeleigh, esq.

In this parish stands Lar-an Bridge, i. e. the Floor Bridge.

TONKIN.

The tutelar saint of this parish is St. Winnocus (Moreri’s Dictionary, vol. I. voce Bergh St. Vinoc), who was born in Armorica, or Little Britain, and having associated himself about the year 680 with St. Bertin, Abbat of Sithien, established a monastery at a place in Flanders, and died there the 6th of November 717, which place has been once called from him Bergh St. Winnox, a town being built there and surrounded with walls in 950; since that it has been regularly fortified, belongs to the French, and is about four miles from Dunkirk.

This is a vicarage, valued in the King’s Book at £5.; the patronage in the Dean and Chapter of Exeter; the incumbent Mr. Thomas Laurenc.

In 1291, 20 Edward I. this church was valued (Tax. Benef.) at cx_s._ being appropriated to the Chapter of Exeter; and the chapel of St. Nectan at v_s._

THE EDITOR.

The Church of St. Winnow is beautifully situated on the eastern bank of the river, at its most beautiful part, between Lestwithiel and Fowey. The church, with its tower, are fine objects as seen from the river, which does not yield in this spot to the Dart itself. The Church contains several monuments.

The vicarage house and glebe partake of the splendour of the scenery; and during the life of their late proprietor, the Reverend Robert Walker, were among the most attractive spots in Cornwall. Mr. Walker, possessed of strong abilities, had an ardent desire to discharge all the duties attached to him as a clergyman and as a country gentleman, in a manner the most beneficial to all with whom he had any concern; in the relations of private life he was equally estimable; and as a most decisive proof of his real merits and high deserts, it may be truly said, that, although he was induced on principle to take a strong part in politics, he had not a single personal enemy.

The chapel, dedicated to the Recluse of Hertland, has still divine service occasionally performed in it, although it does not form any practical division of the parish.

The history of Ethy has been brought down to the period immediately preceding its possession by the Edgecumbe family; the house has been occupied of late years by several gentlemen, and especially by one who has done honour to the nation by his naval and military services, and to Cornwall as a private man. Admiral Sir Charles Vinicombe Penrose distinguished himself on so many occasions, that to enumerate them all would be to write a life. Two, which do not relate immediately to the more obvious features of the military profession, may, however, be selected.

In the year 1797, when the navy of England underwent the greatest disgrace it has ever experienced, by the prevalence of a mutiny which threatened our safety as a country, this excellent officer preserved his ship in due subordination.

In the year 1814, when the Duke of Wellington invaded France from the Pyrenees, and his passage was disputed across the Adour, Admiral Penrose, uniting to scientific acquirements the skill and the bravery of an English seaman, constructed a bridge of boats where it was thought impossible to place them, and thus greatly contributed to the success of this important part of the combined attack.

In the Parliamentary Edition of the Taxatio Ecclesiastica of Pope Nicholas IV. p. 145, the entries respecting St. Winnowe are as follow:

£. _s._ _d._
Eccl’ia de S’c’o Winnico 2 10 0
Vicar’ ejusdem 1 0 0

This parish measures 5,501 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 4304 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 603 14 0
Population,――{ in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 671 | 782 | 906 | 1048
giving an increase of 56 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. Percival Frye, who succeeded the Rev. W.
Molesworth in 1834, on the presentation of the Dean and Chapter of
Exeter. Mr. Molesworth had been instituted in 1816. The clear
value of the benefice in 1831 was £197.

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.

The rocks of this parish are similar to those of the adjoining parishes, Broadoak, Boconnoc, and St. Veep.

WITHIEL.

HALS.

Withiel is situate in the hundred of Pider, and hath upon the north St. Breock, east Lannyvet, south Roach, west St. Wenn. As for those names, they are synonymous in Cornish, and signify in that phrase, a place of trees, which heretofore it was; and is so called, for that this church is situate upon the manor of Withell Goose, i. e. Tree Wood, or a place heretofore consisting in its voke lands of a wood of trees (neither is it altogether destitute of wood and trees to this day, though within the memory of man, much of them have been cut down for buildings and charcoal there, and all the parish over).

At the time of the Norman Conquest, this district was rated in the Domesday Book by the name of Ber-neves (still the voke lands of a manor in this parish, of which, see more under), as also Trenant or Trenance. In the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish Benefices, Ecclesia de Withell, in decanatu de Pider, was rated at £4. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1621, £10. The patronage was formerly in the Prior of Bodman, who endowed it out of his manor of Withell Goos aforesaid; which lands and patronage, when that Priory was dissolved, fell to the Crown, from whence it passed to Glanvill of Killivor; from Glanvill to Vivian of Truan; from Vivian of Truan, by marriage of his daughter, to Vivian of Trelowarren, now in possession thereof; the incumbent ―――― Wood; and the parish rated to the four shillings per pound Land Tax 1696, for one year, tempore William III. £18. 4_s._ 2_d._

Thomas Vivian, Prior of St. Pedyr at Bodmyn, Bishop of Megara, a city of Achaia in Greece, on the borders of Attica, built the rectory house in this place, as appears from his paternal coat armour, and that of the arms of Megara bishoprick, lately extant in the glass windows thereof, tempore Henry VII. and VIII.

Bor, Ber, or Bur-nevas or Nefas, is still the voke lands of an ancient dismembered manor, taxed as aforesaid, otherwise Buro-neves.

Tre-nance in this parish, i. e. the valley town, or town in the valley, was also rated in the Domesday Book 1087, as then the voke lands of a manor, which place gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen surnamed de Trenance, one of which family married Littleton’s heir, and afterwards removed to Lanhydrock, whereof they were lords, tempore James I. when Littleton Trenance, esq. sold that barton to the Lord Robartes, as a younger branch of this family, living at Black Haye in this parish, sold Trenance to Mapowder; and Mapowder sold it to Bone; Bone gave it to Harris of St. Stephen’s; and Harris sold it to Hawkins, now in possession of part thereof. The other moiety of this little barton of Trenance, is in possession of the Arundells of Lanherne.

John Trenance of Black Haye, gent. had issue by ―――― ―――― only three daughters, married to Elford of Roach or St. Dennis, Buckingham of Probus, and Randolph of this parish; the which Mr. Elford is now in possession thereof [who sold it to Pomery his son-in-law, who leased it to Mr. Trewerne, Rector of Withell.[23]]

The arms of Trenance, out of a supposed allusion to their name, after the Latin, is taken as a corruption of Tre-ensis, i. e. three swords; whereas, Trenance is the name of a local place, and signifies as aforesaid, and Try-clothes, Try-glodes, is three swords.

Bryn, i. e. a hill or lofty place, tempore Edward IV. was the lands of Beare of Killygarth, by whose daughter and heir it came in marriage, together with his other lands, to Peter Bevill, a younger branch of Gwarnack house; whose son, Sir William Bevill, dying without issue male, his brother, Philip Bevill, became his heir; who had issue only one daughter named Elizabeth, which was married to Sir Bernard Grenville of Stowe, knight, in whose issue by her, the name, blood, and estate of this Bevill is terminated. The which Sir Bernard, and his lady big with child, for health and diversion residing at Bryn aforesaid, the said lady happened to fall into childbirth, and there was well delivered of her first-born son, who afterwards was baptised at the font by the name of Bevill; which afterwards proved to be that famous and renowned though unfortunate hero, Sir Bevill Grenville, knight, slain at Lansdowne in Somerset, on the part and behalf of King Charles I. against the parliament army.

Bryn is still the lands of Grenville, and by lease in possession of Robins, who as I have heard, hath since purchased the fee thereof from Grenville’s heirs.

TONKIN.

Withiel is in the hundred of Pider, the manor and manorial house, I believe, being denominated only from the personal name of its owner, Withiel.

In anno 1291, 20 Edward I. this church was valued (Tax. Ben.) at £4. being appropriated to the Priory of Bodmin.

This is a rectory, valued in the King’s Book £10.; the patronage in Sir Francis Vyvyan, Bart.; the incumbent Mr. Richard Trewren, who succeeded Mr. William Wood in 17――.

The 12 Edward I. this manor, in the extent of Cornish acres, was valued in fifteen. (Carew, fol. 46 b.)

THE EDITOR.

Withiel does not present any thing in addition to what has been said of it.

Mr. Lysons does not give any information of the least interest respecting property in the parish. The larger portion belongs to the Vyvyans of Trelowarren, as well as the advowson. A younger brother of that family, the Rev. Vyal Vyvyan, is the present incumbent, and this gentlemen has greatly improved the house.

There is a monument in the church to the Reverend Richard Trewren, his wife, and two daughters, one the widow of Mr. Ustick of Pendavey, which place he sold to the Molesworths of Peranrow. Mr. Trewren was a brother of the family of Tredreva in Constantine: he married Catherine Davies, a sister of the Editor’s grandfather.

This parish measures 2,517 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2,109 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 72 5 0
Population,――{ in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 283 | 299 | 339 | 406
giving an increase of 43½ per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. Vyell Francis Vyvyan, presented by his
brother Sir R. R. Vyvyan, Bart, in 1825. The net income of the
living returned in 1831 was 324_l._

THE GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.

This parish has the same geological structure as St. Wenn, to which it adjoins.

[23] This is a more recent insertion.

ZENNAR.

HALS.

Zennar is situated in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north the Irish sea, north-east Tywidneck, south Maddarne. For the name, if it be compounded of Sen-nar, it signifies Holy Pool or Lake; otherwise, if it be a corruption of Se-nar or Seynar, English Cornish, it signifies the sea lake, or creek of the sea; and the church is situated in a valley near the sea, with a rivulet of water flowing by it.

At the time of the Norman Conquest, this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Trenwith, or of Alvorton. When the first inquisition into the value of Cornish Benefices was made, this church was not endowed, if extant; however, in Wolsey’s Inquisition (1521), it was rated by the name of Zennor or Sennor £5. 5_s._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter. This parish was rated to the four shillings in the pound Land Tax in 1696, for one year, at £86. 10_s._

This church, I take it, was endowed by the Prior of St. Michael’s Mount, and was formerly wholly impropriate. This parish is comparatively scattered all over with stones and rocks of great bigness; yet amongst those are found very many fertile plots of ground for corn, grass, and barley, as also many tin lodes, tending to the great profit of the farmers and tinners thereof.

In this parish are the ruins of an old free chapel called Chapel Jane, that is the narrow chapel.

TONKIN.

Zennar is in the hundred of Penwith, is bounded to the west by Morva, to the north by the main ocean, to the east by Tawednack, to the south by Madderne.

This parish takes its name from its tutelar saint.

This is a vicarage, valued in the King’s Book £5. 5_s._ the patronage in the Bishop of Exeter; the incumbent Mr. Oliver.

THE EDITOR.

This parish is beautifully situated, mainly consisting of a belt nearly a mile wide, between the sea on one hand, bounded by high and rocky cliffs, and on the other hand by a chain of granite mountains.

The belt of land, including the church town, is very fertile, particularly abounding in milk and honey, which we early learn to consider as proofs of the most abundant soil.

The church and tower are neat and plain, and it is probable that Mr. Hals’s conjecture respecting its ancient dependence on St. Michael’s Mount, may be correct, since one or more of the bells are said to bear an inscription declaring them the gift of the prior of the Mount.

Mr. Tonkin says, that the name is taken from a patron Saint, but no such saint can be found; and the parish feast is kept on the nearest Sunday to the 6th of May, when the festival is observed by the Church of Rome, in commemoration of the virtual martyrdom and miraculous preservation of St. John the Evangelist; when, by the order of Domitian, he was cast into a caldron of boiling oil before the Latin or Lateran Gate of Rome, where the church of St. John Lateran has since been built, the chief sacred edifice in Rome previously to the construction of St. Peter’s, and celebrated for the assemblage of various general councils of the Catholic Church, thence denominated Councils of Lateran. It is probable, therefore, that this parish may be under the protection of the divine and beloved Apostle.

Towards the western extremity of the parish a bold promontory stretches out into the sea, called Trereen Dinas, but in recent times, from some fanciful resemblance, the Gurnet’s Head. This is by much the finest and most romantic point on the north side of the Land’s End, and it would rival the promontory nearly opposite to it on the south, called by the same name, Trereen Dinas, or Castle Trereen, if that were not composed of granite and crowned by the Logging Rock; while in Zennar the sea shore and the cliffs are every where green stone, surrounding the granite.

For a description of this headland, see the Second Volume of the Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, p. 200. The Editor was so much struck with the appearance of this bold formation, that he purchased the manor of Treen and Baswedneck chiefly for the purpose of acquiring the property of a mass of rocks so geologically interesting.

The impropriation of the great tithes belongs to George John, esq. of Rosemorron, and of Penzance.

Zennar measures 3,647 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2,137 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 187 5 0
Population,――{ in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 544 | 671 | 715 | 811
giving an increase of 49 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. W. Veale, collated in 1824 by Dr. Carey, the
Bishop of Exeter. The net income of the living, as returned in 1831,
was £179.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The greater part of this parish is situated on granite, which presents the varieties common to the Land’s End district. The northern part, in the form of an irregular band, consists of schistose rocks, with the exception of a small patch a little to the north of the church, and another which extends from Polmear Cove to the western boundary of the parish. These slates are for the most part felspathic, and, at their points of junction with the granite, exhibit some beautiful illustrations of granitic veins in the slate.

* * * * *

Note, that Penzance, by a mistake, is not numbered among the parishes [nor is Tregoney]; so that the real number of them must be 204 [or rather 205].

GENERAL REMARKS ADDED HERE BY MR. WHITAKER.

It is stated by Carew:

Fol. 8. “They [the Cornish Tinners] maintaine these workes [“two kind of Tynne workes, _Stream_ and _Load_”] to have beene verie auncient, and first wrought by the Jewes with _Pick-axes_ of holme, boxe, and _hartshorne_: they prove this by the name of those places yet enduring, to wit _Attall Sarazin_, in English, the _Jewes’ Offcast_, and by _those tooles daily_ found amongst the _rubble of such workes_.” So, in the stream-work now prosecuted at Carne between Truro and Penrin, were found two stems of deer-horns, which I inspected at Tregothnan in Nov. 1792, and which had been plainly shaped into pickaxes. One of them was even tinged strongly at the picking end, with the stain of some metallic matter on which it has been employed.

Not far from them was found a brass instrument, that had clearly, from the shade still remaining upon the covered part, once had a handle clipping it round the middle, and leaving out the two ends for striking. July 19, 1794, was promised by Lady Falmouth a sketch of all three, done by the hand of the Rev. Mr. Hennah, Rector of St. Austle; but, as he had pronounced the brass instrument to be no celt, and as I proved it to be one, he never sent the sketch.

“There are also taken up in such works,” adds Carew, “certaine little tooles’ heads of brasse, which some terme thunder axes; but they make small show of any profitable use. Neither were the Romaines ignorant of this trade, as may appeare by a brasse coyne of DOMITIAN’S, found in one of these workes,” stream or load, “and fallen into my hands.”

Fol. 56. “Most of the inhabitants can [speak] no word of Cornish, but _very few_ are ignorant of the English; and yet _some so affect their owne_, as to _a stranger they will not speake it_: for, if meeting them by chance, you inquire the way or any such matter, your answer shal be, _Meea navidua cowzasawsneck_, I can speake no Saxonage.” W.]

THE ISLANDS OF SCILLY.

THE EDITOR.

Neither Mr. Hals nor Mr. Tonkin has noticed these islands.

It may be proper, therefore, to add a few observations on their ancient history, of which however very little is known.

That the Phœnicians, and after them the merchants of Carthage, traded with the Britons for tin, is established without the slightest doubt; but no possible absurdity can be greater than the supposition that voyagers, having sailed through the Mediterranean Sea, and passed between the Pillars of Hercules into the exterior ocean, and navigated through this boundless and dreaded expanse of water for about a thousand miles, should then stop short at trifling islands, or rather rocks, and that too year after year during centuries, with the country before them, actually in sight, from whence the valuable commodity which they sought must have been manifestly taken, and where they would have been sure of an improved market for the commercial articles to be given in exchange. Yet, relying on the literal interpretation of passages from ancient authors, who never visited the land of tin, nor possibly ever conversed with the adventurous sailors who had been there, persons of account have gravely asserted that the rocks of Scilly were the ancient Cassiterides; while others, to render this strange supposition somewhat less absurd, have glossed it with the miracle, probably invented by Florence of Worcester, of a large tract of country between these existing islands and the Land’s End, having been engulphed within times of recent memory.

Perhaps this mode of induction, directly opposed to common sense and to experience, may be a remnant of the hallucination which bound itself round men’s minds at the period when the stores of ancient learning were first poured on modern Europe; under this delusion they were not contented with ascribing a high degree of merit to the artists, to the writers, to the architects of Greece and Rome; nothing short of absolute perfection was believed to exist in each, and this servile appeal to authority is not even yet quite obsolete, although the time for such delusions being in the slightest degree advantageous either to literature or to science, has long since passed by.

The traders who frequented these remote shores would naturally mistake land in the great unbounded ocean for mere islands, and their vague descriptions, purposely made obscure, proved so successful that Julius Cæsar was not aware when he landed on the coast of Kent that he was arrived in the country producing tin.

The rocks of Scilly, having inhabitants, were visited by monks and anchorites, who formed establishments there, and gradually associated themselves into a small priory; but, so early as the time of King Henry the First, their monastery, with all its appendages, was given to the Abbey of Tavistock. The grant is extant.

“Henricus Rex Anglorum Willelmo Episcopo Excestriæ et
Ricardo filio Baldwini, et Justiciæ suæ de Devenesira et
Cornegallia, salutem. Sciatis me dedisse in perpetuam
elemosinam Osberto Abbati et Ecclesiæ de Tavystok, et
Turoldo Monacho suo, omnes Ecclesias de Sullye cum
pertinentiis suis, et terram sicut unquam Monachi aut
Heremitæ melius eam tenuerunt tempore Regis Edwardi, et
Burgaldi Episcopi Cornegalliæ. Et volo et præcipio quod ipse
Turoldus et omnes Monachi de Sully sicut proprii Præbendarii
mei habeant firmam pacem cum omnibus quæ ad eas pertinent,”
&c.

There is also a confirmation by Reginald de Dunstanville, illegitimate son of King Henry the First, who was created Earl of Cornwall in 1140, and died without male issue in 1175.

“Reginaldus Regis Filius Comes Cornubiæ, omnibus Baronibus suis
et Ballivis suis Cornubiæ et Scilly, salutem. Sciatis me, pro
anima Henrici Regis patris mei, et mea, et pro Carta ipsius quam
vidi, concessisse et confirmasse in liberam et perpetuam
elemosinam Monachis de Sully, sicut propriis Præbendariis Patris
mei, omne WREC quod in Insulis, quas ipsi totas tenent,
advenerit; præter cœtum et navem integram, hoc est, in Rentemen
et Nurcho et insula Sancti Elidii et Sancti Sampsonis, et Sanctæ
Teonæ. Et prohibeo super forisfactum meum, sicut prohibuit pater
meus per cartam suam, ne quis eis aliquam injuriam faciat aut
molestiam. Quoniam nolo ut de aliquo tenemento suo in Scilly aut
libertate aut consuetudine, quam eis concessi, alicui amodo
intendant nisi michi[24] et Abbati Tavistochiæ.

“Teste Radulpho de Bosco-Roardi apud Dorecestriam.”

There is also another document, entitled,

“Confirmatio B. Episcopi Exoniæ de Decimis de Sully.”――It is probable that the person indicated by B, was Bartholomew Iscan, consecrated in 1161, and died in 1184.

“Omnibus fidelibus ad quos præsens scriptura pervenerit, B.
divina miseratione dictus Episcopus Exoniæ salutem in Domino.
Noverit universitas vestra me vidisse et legisse cartam Ricardi
de Wicha, in qua confitetur se concessisse, et in liberam et
perpetuam elemosinam dedisse omnes decimas suas de Sully (et
nominatim de cuniculis, quas injuste aliquandiu detinuerat, eo
quod de rebus hujusmodi decimas dandas esse non putavit,) Abbati
et Conventui Tavistochiæ, et Fratribus Monasterii Beati
Confessoris Nicholai de Sully, pro salute animæ suæ, et parentum
suorum, necnon et Reginaldi quondam Comitis Cornubiæ Domini sui;
et hanc donationem super altare Beati Rumoni Tavistochiæ per
Librum Evangeliorum manu propria obtulisse in præsentia B.
Abbatis et conventus ejusdem loci et multorum aliorum.

“Quoniam autem tam Monasterium Tavistochiæ, quam tota terra
prædicti Ricardi de Sully ad meam pertinet Diocesim, ego sicut
Episcopus diocesanus prænotatam ipsius Ricardi donationem,
auctoritate episcopali, præsenti scripto, et sigilli mei, sicut
eam quam gratam et ratam habeo, appositione confirmo.

“Hiis testibus, B. Archidiacono Cornubiensi, &c.”

There is also a letter of protection from King Edward the First for the prior of St. Nicholas, within his island de Scilly. This letter is addressed among others, to the constable of his camp in the island of Enmour in Scilly.

Enmour may well be a corruption of Ennis Moor, the great island, possibly the secular name of St. Mary’s.

In the time of Edward the Third, this priory or cell to Tavistock must have been of very little importance, since in the 19th year of his reign, it appears by the following entry in the Abbreviatio Rotulorum Originalium, that two monks only were resident. Since, for some reason which it is difficult to discover, secular priests were to be stationed in Scilly during the continuance of a war with France, instead of the monks, which gave rise to the following agreement:

“Abbas et Conventus de Tavistok finem fecerunt cum Rege per
viginti solidos, pro licentia habenda, quod ipsi duos capellanos
sæculares pro animabus progenitorum Regis, quondam Regum Angliæ,
et hæredum suorum, in Insula de Sulley celebraturos, loco duorum
Capellanorum commonachorum suorum, quos ibidem ex causa prædicta
invenire solebant, durante guerra inter Regem et homines de
Francia mota, invenire possint.”

Since the Reformation the tithes have been appropriated, and passed with the different leases of the lands. Remains of the convent, most properly dedicated to St. Nicholas, are still to be seen on the island of Trescow. St. Nicholas was the patron of mariners, and frequently preserved vessels in a miraculous manner when his aid had been fervently invoked; perhaps the right of wreck was given to the convent for the pupose of attaching an increased degree of merit to their prayers in favour of ships likely to be dashed against those rocks.

St. Nicholas had also delegated to him from Heaven the peculiar care of infants, as a reward for his early piety, which induced him, in the first month, to abstain from taking the nourishment afforded by his mother’s breast on Wednesdays and Fridays, and on all occasional fasts appointed by the church.

He was Archbishop of Myra, a city of Lycia, in Lesser Asia, where he died in 342; but in 1087 his relics were forcibly taken from thence, and conveyed to the town of Bavi in Italy, towards the opening of the Adriatic, and where they continue to perform the most wonderful cures, more especially in all cases of infants.

The Scilly Islands first became objects of public attention in the great civil war, and especially towards the latter part of these struggles. After the death of King Charles the First, Sir John Grenville, subsequently created Earl of Bath in memory of the battle at Lansdown, where his father fell in the arms of victory, having collected a small force, kept possession of St. Mary’s island, where they either constructed or enlarged lines, rather than a fortress, which still remain. Their opponents encamped themselves on Trescow, till at last, as relief was clearly impossible, the cavaliers surrendered, but not till they had evinced their honour and true feelings as gentlemen, by refusing to accept any terms from a foreign power, and preserving the integrity of England, although it was in the hands of their deadly foes.

Unfortunately for these islands, they remain public property, or as it is termed, belong to the Crown; and a system has prevailed, at least from the time of Queen Elizabeth, one of the very worst that could be devised, of granting them at an annual rent, and for a short term of years, to private gentlemen; renewed, indeed, in the same line for more than two hundred years, first to the family of Godolphin, and then to the family of Osborne, which succeeded to the property of the former, but always with an uncertain tenure and the impossibility of encouraging others to expend capital on any permanent undertaking.

A better system has, however, been at last adopted, although very inferior to the plain, simple, and natural one of making the land freeholds in the hands of individuals.

Either the former lessee for years no longer wished to retain a source of small patronage, rendered of little importance by well-known changes, or the government resolved on doing something beneficial for the inhabitants and for the country; at all events, a lease for lives has now been granted to Mr. Smith, a gentleman of ability and information, the eldest son of a respectable country gentleman, under certain conditions, and among them a stipulation for essentially improving the harbour by the construction of a pier, the government contributing a certain sum towards the expense, and the lessee undertaking to complete the work. Mr. Smith, it is understood, means to reside there; and great expectations are entertained of the benefit likely to result.

Such a cluster of rocks, from eight to nine leagues west-south-west off the main land, must always be dangerous to ships returning from distant voyages; but the risk has been very greatly diminished by the excellent light on St. Agnes. There is, however, one rock called the Wolf, somewhat more than a third of the distance of Scilly from the Land’s End, on which a light-house might be erected; and the losses of lives and of property on this rock, which lies immediately in the way of all coasting vessels, more especially of those from Ireland, are supposed by many competent judges to exceed the losses occasioned by all the other western rocks taken together.

Before lights were placed on the coast, and the soundings laid down with accuracy, and the nature of the ground described, and before astronomical observations were brought to practical perfection, the wrecks were, perhaps, quadruple to what they are at present, and with not one fourth of the vessels at sea: among the innumerable wrecks that have taken place at Scilly, the most remarkable is that of the Victory, a first-rate ship of war, commanded by Sir Cloudesley Shovel, returning from a series of exploits, which continued adding to his reputation even when they failed of obtaining success. This ship, with two others of a smaller size, struck on the rocks of Scilly in the night following the 22d of October 1705, when between fifteen hundred and two thousand men are supposed to have perished; and there is a tradition of one man having escaped, and of his relating some anecdotes of obstinacy, and even of violence, on the part of the Admiral, discreditable to him as a man, and the immediate causes of the calamity; but these additions induce me entirely to disbelieve the whole tale.

The Scilly Islands are composed of granite, similar to that of the Land’s End district, and intersected by small lodes of tin, but not of a size sufficiently large to have produced at any period a quantity worthy of mercantile account.

The land does not rise into lofty hills, nor are the rocks on a scale of magnificence; and the people have been so much absorbed in trade and in intercourse with strangers from all nations, that they are without any legendary histories or peculiarity of manners.

Although St. Mary’s, Trescow, and St. Agnes’, St. Martin’s, Bryher, and Sampson, have alone permanent inhabitants, yet a great many more islands are dignified with specific names. Among these one rock is honoured with the appellation of Scilly; and this trifling circumstance has given rise to theories about changes and devastations by the sea, by earthquakes, &c. when the name has clearly been given in the same spirit as that which induced seamen to declare that the cord attached to the water bucket is the only rope belonging to a ship.

Alterations in the laws respecting Customs and Excise, with increased vigilance as well as greater activity, both at sea and on shore, have materially interfered with the most lucrative trade of these islanders. They are, however, tolerably well supported by their agriculture, which is said to afford more corn than they consume; by their fisheries, particularly of ling, which are exported after being pressed and dried almost without salt; and finally, by the resort of ships in great numbers when the wind happens to be in opposition to their intended voyages.

Doctor Borlase has written a separate treatise on the Scilly Islands, and described in it the scanty remains of their supposed Druidical antiquities.

At the time of the last census (in 1831) the population was as ascertained to be

Statute Acres.
St. Mary’s 1311 said to measure 1640
Trescow 470 880
St. Agnes’ 289 390
St. Martin’s 230 720
Bryher 128 330
Sampson 37 120
―――― ――――
2465 4080
The small islands are estimated at 150
――――
4230

A recent benefit has been given to Scilly by the legislature, in respect to their police and to the administration of justice. The sole authority previously existing in the islands resided in a court possessing very limited power, and that undefined, so that no case of any magnitude could be acted on in any other way than by sending the parties over to the main land; an Act of Parliament has now enabled the executive government to appoint magistrates who may act in Scilly, without qualification by the possession of freehold property, in as ample a manner as other justices of the peace may act for the county at large.

* * * * *

St. Agnes Light House. Lat. 50° 18′ 27″. Long. 6° 19′ 23″. In time 25m. 8s. W.

Time of high water at the New and Full Moon, 10 minutes after 4.

[24] Michi for Mihi, Ducange.――Ed.